Word: salyut
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Launched last month in an effort to beat the larger Skylab into orbit, Salyut 2 was to have marked the resumption of the manned Soviet space effort after an interruption of nearly two years, in time for the big Communist May Day celebrations. It was in June 1971 that three cosmonauts perished when the hatch of their Soyuz space craft failed while they were returning from a highly successful 24-day mission aboard Salyut 1. Since then, the Russians have thoroughly redesigned Soyuz and were expected to use it to ferry men to the new orbital workshop...
...after last month's launch of Salyut 2 into orbit, days and eventually weeks slipped by without a manned launch...
Finally, the Russians made a cryptic announcement that Salyut's mission had been completed...
Floating Debris. That, it seems, was a gross understatement. According to Western radar trackers, Salyut be gan spinning wildly out of control...
...cause of the mishap is still in doubt. One U.S. theory was that the third stage of Salyut's large booster may have exploded after rocketing the spaceship into orbit, possibly because of an excess of unburned fuel. Drifting only a short distance away, the booster may have sent fragments ripping into Salyut, thereby badly damaging the gyroscopic controls and thrusters that help maintain the ship's stability. Another possible explanation was that one of the Soviet Union's oceangoing tracking ships inadvertently fired one of Salyut's thrusters, sending it into an uncontrollable spin...